Two camps of Astros’ fans: Which one are you in?

Dan Peschong takes a look at two different camps of Astros’ fans, created by the last years of events culminating in the sale of the team and move to the American League.

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Regular readers of Chip’s fine blog know that I am a semi-regular guest blogger. Some of you may have wondered why I have not written any columns lately, while others may be joyously exultant in my absence.

The truth is I’ve been caught up in what I will call an emotional writer’s block. To begin with – this is the toughest time of the year to write about any team – I don’t know how Chip is able to keep putting out product when the signing of Jack Cust may be the biggest news of the offseason. But secondly, I’ve been down about all the back and forth sniping between true fans on both sides of the new owner / AL move issue.

It brought to mind a scene from the musical “1776”. The animosity that two of the John’s (Adams and Dickinson) have for each other boils over in the following exchange.

DICKINSON: Are you calling me a coward?
ADAMS: Yes! Coward!!
DICKINSON: Madman!!
ADAMS: Landlord!!
DICKINSON: Lawyer! (The battle is joined. They begin whacking away at each other with their walking sticks. Congress is in an uproar. )

I particularly liked how calling someone a lawyer caused the fight to become physical. At this point – tiny, old and cancer ridden Caesar Rodney steps between them.

RQDNEY: Stop it! Stop it!! This is the Congress! Stop it, I say! The enemy is out there!
DICKINSON: No, Mr. Rodney, the enemy is here!
RODNEY: No, no, I say he’s out there — England, England, closing in, cutting off our air — there’s no time – no air — (He is stricken) Thomas! (He collapses into MCKEAN’s arms)

OK – maybe over dramatic for a sports blog – but I hope you get the point. If you saw the movie you realize that both sides consist of honorable men. Even though John Dickinson fights tooth and nail against the approval of the Declaration of Independence – he leaves the meeting still opposed to the document, yet vowing to join the army and fight the British.

So let’s look at the two “camps” of Astros fans at this point – but remember that I am a part of Group #2 so take your grains of salt before reading.

Fan Group #1 – These appear to be long term fans of the Astros, who are disappointed to the point of paranoia by the move to the AL. They believe that Jim Crane did not fight the good fight against the move, that he was motivated only by personal greed in agreeing to the move and possibly think he wanted to move the team to the AL even before Bud Selig suggested it – just so he could alienate 80% of his potential customers. They believe that every other action performed by Mr. Crane and his new management group is meant to build a cheap sub-par team and to sustain it as such forever.

They believe an economic boycott will force the team to stay in the NL and failing at that – it will force Mr. Crane to move the Astros to a venue somewhere closer to the west coast and that Houston will immediately be rewarded with another NL team moving here. They may also believe in unicorns and that Jim Crane personally shot JFK from the grassy knoll. They never intend to support the Astros again, not even if the NL also adopts the designated hitter rule and the Astros eventually win 3 World Series in a row.

But somehow they can’t let it go…. Fan Group #2 irritates them in two ways – they are sure if the FG#2’s joined them they could bring the team and mlb to their knees and the Astros back to the NL. And secondly they are positive that all the FG#2’s are all directly or indirectly on the Astros payroll.

Fan Group #2 – These appear to be long term fans of the Astros, who are disappointed, but resigned about the move to the AL. They are unsure of how much fight Jim Crane put up about the move, but based on how long the approval took – they assume he held out a long time and then blinked. They don’t like to waste effort and figure that a boycott will fail – but they say in their minds they would have supported Rosa Parks.

They want to give the new owner the benefit of the doubt, because what else do they have to grasp onto and they don’t see why anyone would think that the new owner would have a business plan to create a very cheap team and never invest in it in the future. They have been beaten down by the world and have witnessed many an Astro team failing, but every spring has sprung eternal for them and there is no reason to stop now. They believe that the team is heading in the right direction for the 40th year in a row, ignoring recent and ancient history to the contrary.

Fan Group #1 irritates them in two ways – FG#2’s don’t understand why the FG#1’s keep showing up on the blogs when they say they are done being a fan and they are sure the FG#1’s will be jumping on the bandwagon when the wagon is actually moving forward instead of sliding backwards.

Common Ground – Both Fan Groups have been through the good and the bad of the team over the years. Both groups love the Astros and loathe the move to the AL. And I think down deep both groups will be happy to see a team that eventually builds a solid and sustainable talent base and has success. They just want to get there in different ways.